Fred Foster, the influential Nashville music executive who co-founded Monument Records, was born 95 years ago today on a farm in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Although he never recorded a song himself, Foster's talent-spotting shaped the careers of Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton and Kris Kristofferson, helping establish Nashville's Music Row as a recording hub and leaving a lasting mark on country and popular music.

Foster left home at 18, working in Washington DC before roles at Mercury Records and ABC-Paramount, where he oversaw Jimmy Dean's first hit and helped push George Hamilton IV's single up the charts. He co-founded Monument Records in 1958, signing Roy Orbison in 1959 and later Dolly Parton in 1965, and moved the label to Nashville in 1960. Foster also earned a songwriting credit on Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" after suggesting its title and theme, a song Janis Joplin later took to number one in 1971. He died in Nashville in 2019, aged 87.